The optimism that followed the resolution of the rightful occupant of the office of the national secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party PDP at its 100th National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting may after all, be short-lived.
Indications are that the decision to allow senator Samuel Anyanwu to act as the national secretary of the party may not be all it takes to end the lingering crisis in the PDP which for many years, straddled the political landscape like a colossus. Early signs of discomfort emerged when the southeast zone of the party while reacting to the decision of the NEC to recognise Anyanwu as the acting national secretary said they would take the decision home for a position on the matter.
The zone has been insisting on the recognition of Sunday Udeh-Okoye as the authentic national secretary having been so nominated and presented to the NEC by it in keeping with the letters of the PDP constitution. They are yet to make their decision known as this was being put together. Before now, they had threatened to quit the party should Udeh-Okoye be denied that position. That threat has not been rescinded and may have informed the position of the zone to consult more on the ceding of the national secretary to Anyanwu.
As if that development is not troubling enough, barely 24 hours after the PDP NEC’s decision to reinstate Anyanwu, key leaders of the party led by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar were publicly wooing party members and other Nigerians to join a coalition under a party that was to be unveiled the following day.
The appeal was contained in a communique signed by David Mark, a former president of the senate after a PDP coalition meeting in Abuja attended by among others, former national chairman of the party, Uche Secondus, ex- governors Aminu Tambuwal, Liyel Imoke Babangida Aliyu and Sam Egwu. Others were Ben Obi, Josephine Anenih, Austin Akobundu and Kola Ologbondiyan.
Curiously at a press conference addressed the next day by the acting national chairman of the PDP, Umar Damagun following what they called PDP National Working Committee meeting to consolidate the party unity after the reinstatement of Anyanwu as the national secretary, many of those that attended the coalition meeting sat with Damagun at the high table as he threatened consequences for members demarketing the party. Damagun had sought to use the meeting to shore up confidence that the crisis within the party has been finally resolved for good with members now speaking with one voice.
Though David Mark was not at the meeting summoned by Damagun, he was to later officially announce his resignation from the PDP citing deepening internal divisions and leadership crises. Other coalition members who sat comfortably with Damagun, opted to hold their plans to their chests. But it is only a matter of time for their real plans to unfold. How this double dealing will fare for the overall unity, progress and stability of the PDP is a matter of conjecture.
But Mark appeared to have set the tone for what is about to unfold when he said, “Deepening divisions, persistent leadership crises and irreconcilable differences have reduced the party to a shadow of its former self subjecting it to public ridicule”. Many of the key PDP leaders who attended both meetings share in Mark’s views regarding the current image of the PDP in the public space.
Another evidence of festering schism is the conditions allegedly given to Anyanwu for his reinstatement. Anyanwu was reportedly asked to sign an undertaking that he would not victimise any of the staff of the party when he resumes duties before the decision to reinstate him was approved. That was not all, he was also asked to sign a guarantee that he would not obstruct the proceedings of the coming convention of the party billed for next month.
These conditions might appear simple but they highlight the deep-seated suspicion and mistrust within the party that could rupture any time soon. Before now, the PDP had witnessed a gale of defections with the switching of camps to the ruling APC by two of its governors, Sheriff Oborevwori of Delta State and Umoh Eno of Akwa Ibom State. The party has also cried out that the APC government is working to lure more of its governors into its fold.
When this threat is paired with the fact that many of the PDP leaders and supporters are neck-deep in promoting the coalition which last week adopted the African Democratic Congress (ADC), the reality of the challenge begins to get more obvious. Mark who signed the communique urging the PDP members to join the coalition has officially resigned from the PDP to assume the position of acting national chairman of the ADC with Rauf Aregbesola, a former governor of Osun State and APC chieftain acting as the national secretary. The reality on the ground is that many leaders and members of the PDP are just waiting in the wings for events to unfold before they ditch the party.
The leadership of the party knows this clearly and may be severely handicapped in wielding the big stick in spite of its threats that amount to nothing in the face of the inability to discipline members who had been covertly and overtly working for the ruling party.
PDP has in recent years gone through series of crisis first, starting with events leading to the 2015 elections which saw massive switching of camps to the opposition that significantly contributed to its loss of that election. But efforts to put the party into form again, suffered serious reverses following the rancorous outcome of its presidential primaries before the 2023 general elections. The furore cantered around which section of the national divide should field the presidential candidate.
That election saw some of the PDP governors working against the party in the 2023 polls. The division that emerged during that election has continued to shape events in the party since then. At the centre of it all, is power struggles for the control of the structures of the party. The attempt by Anyanwu to return to his post of national secretary after losing the governorship election in Imo State further polarised the party along the line.
Unceasing dispute over the rightful occupant of the national secretary’s office has been the undoing of the party, leading to a series of litigations. Opposition to the return of Anyanwu as the national secretary is in part, located in his alleged loyalty to Nyesom Wike, the minister of the Federal Capital Territory FCT.
Wike worked for the APC during the last presidential election and owes his current office to that support. Many PDP leaders are not comfortable with him and fear that his control of the party may lead to its decapitation. Those who left the party in recent times cited the unceasing crisis and the damage to the image of the party.
Even when the Supreme Court finally ruled on the disputed office of the national secretary, the judgment lent itself to varying interpretations. While Anyanwu claimed victory, the PDP relied on aspects of the ruling that affirmed the supremacy of the party over its internal affairs to hold that Udeh-Okoye who was duly nominated by the southeast zone of the party is the rightful occupant of that office.
The apex court’s ruling was read differently by the contending parties and each position seemed right until the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC raised objections to a letter signed by Damagun informing the commission of party’s 100th NEC without the concurrent signature of the national secretary. In a subsequent meeting between INEC and the leadership of the party, their attention was drawn to the regulation requiring the signing of such letters by the chairman and secretary of the party and the inconsistency on who is the rightful occupant of that office.
INEC read the Supreme Court’s ruling in favour of Anyanwu. And the PDP was left with no other option than to have him back in that office albeit temporarily or risk convening a convention whose proceedings could be declared illegal by the courts.
But they do not still trust him. That was why he was asked to withdraw all cases in court and sign the undertaking that he will not obstruct the proceedings of the convention. One’s reading of the conditions is that those opposed to him still fear he could manipulate the lists of delegates to have a firm hold on the structures of the party or hand over the party to Wike.
That is the fear. Whether the mere signing of an undertaking will stave off the manipulations that have overtime stifled internal democracy within the party is a matter of time.
Credit:The Nation